I spent yesterday working on the application for our mural grant, which I am fairly happy with. Then I was amused to see this headline out of Connecticut:

Canton Public Works Department Keeps An Eye On Beaver Dams

CANTON — The public works department has gotten permission to lower or even remove beaver dams in town as it keeps an eye on a few that could cause flooding and other problems.

Public Works Director Robert Martin said his staff regularly monitors beaver dams in town. In anticipation of having to work on a few of them, the department sought permission from the inland wetlands agency earlier this month. That permit was granted for five years with the condition that heavy machinery not be used.

“We have a pretty good idea of where these dams are and their impact on town and private property,” Martin said.

Chris Vann, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said that agency routinely gets inquiries from municipalities on how best to deal with beaver dams.

“Beavers have been one of our most dealt-with species in the last 20 years,” Vann said. He said the state has a healthy population of beavers, estimated recently to be as many as 8,000.

Permission to lower and EVEN remove the dams? Um. I’m kind of loving Connecticut at the moment. Here in you-know-where the permission public works gets is a little more dire. I’m impressed the department of Energy and Enviornmental Protection has a population estimate though (Who on earth would combine those two departments? Someone who works for the power companies I guess.) Mr. Vann quotes a healthy population of 8000 – Gimme a sec and let me just do some math…

Wikipedia says CT is 5,543 square miles of which 12% are water – that makes around 698 square miles of water. A beaver population of 8000 spread around that would mean nearly 12 beavers per square mile. Which is a lot, if it’s true.

I’m not holding my breath.

Breaching a dam is one option but removing it entirely is often necessary and in some cases problem beavers have to be trapped and removed.

Vann said monitoring beaver activity is a continuous process for towns.

“They are persistent,” he said. “Beavers will use available habitat and towns repeatedly have to go back and remove dams.”

Martin said the town has worked on beaver dams before. One was removed near High Valley Drive that threatened to flood the road. He said he decided to seek a permit from the wetlands board after talking to Town Planner Neil Pade about the work that might have to be done.

“We knew this work would be in a regulated area,” Martin said. “We want to respect the wetlands board and for them to understand what we are doing.”

Oh those darned pesky ‘problem beavers’. Everyone seems to have a lot of those.

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One exciting part of the conversation on Friday was an invitation for me to come to Portland and present to the Wetlands Conservancy and the public about our work here in Martinez. They have the enviable problem where the scientists and officials all want urban beavers and the public aren’t so sure. They would have me present here on a friday evening and saturday morning do a meeting with the interested officials or science folk, which sounds really fun. I hadn’t heard of the Oregon Public House before (even though it made enough of a splash to be talked about in the NYT and Colbert report) but it has a big community ball room where I’d present and TWC will be one of their nonprofits in May so it might work out perfect.

So very Portland.

Speaking of generosity, the plates donation arrived yesterday from Sarah Melancon of the Thirdhalf Studios, Kitchen Beaver. They are so delightful. Thank you so much Sarah! I’m suddenly overwhelmed with an undeniable need for Sunday pancakes.

Do you think it would be too hard for Jon to make them in the shape of tails?

Sometimes life in the beaver-biz is very rewarding. And sometimes it just annoys the stuffing out of me. Take this article out of Whinging-ton Ma for starters.

Hopkinton selectmen vote to trap beavers

HOPKINTON — Selectmen have agreed to hire a beaver trapper after flooding became a problem on the recently purchased Pratt Farm and neighboring properties.The board voted 5-0 on Tuesday night to pay for a plan to eliminate the beavers.“We decided we need to protect the town’s land,” Selectmen Chairman Ben Palleiko said in an interview.

Palleiko said the plan will likely cost about $5,500 — $4,000 for the trapping and $1,500 for taking apart seven dams. The board decided on an option known as a kill trap. A live trap would be as twice as expensive and the beavers would be euthanized at a later time, not released elsewhere, officials said.

How surprising! The folk in Hopkinton seemed so darned open-minded and committed to humane solutions! (Not). They have been gunning for those beavers since day one, and they kept promoting their death in the paper until they tipped the argument just enough. I especially admire the duplicity necessary to get this quote from their ‘beaver expert’ printed in the paper.

“Due to the beaver activity, an accurate flagging of wetlands may not be possible at this time, which will stall the work of the team,” she wrote in a letter to the board.The board made its decision after hearing from Malcolm Speicher, a beaver specialist, who has done work in town, including Legacy Farms. The town needs to seek bids for the work.

Speicher said it is only a matter of time before the town’s aquifers feeding to the town’s wells will be contaminated with bacteria from beaver feces.

Palleiko said Speicher believe there could be up to 40 beavers in the area.

Now maybe you’re wondering where they found this illustrious specialist. We are talking about MA, so maybe he’s at Cambridge? Harvard? MIT??? Ohhh no he’s a trapper who happens to specialize in beaver and fisher. So of course he knows all about beaver stools causing bacteria in the water.

Grrrr.

And now this. Things just got real in Mountain House. Now its time to bring out the big guns. Folks were shown Mike’s video about how to solve problems so they tried to think of an unsolvable one. We in Martinez know erosion trumps flooding. That’s why, after Skip’s flow device worked well and no one was worried about drowning anymore, the lawyer sent a letter about the foundation slipping because of unseeable burrows and that’s how Martinez got to buy 350,000 worth of sheetpile.

Obviously, this is deja vu all over again. Officials are now saying the biggest problem is these.

You can guess how true I think this is. Coal mining beavers?

But I think it’s always good to ask smarter minds than mine. Glynnis Hood says that beavers in her research do cause tunnels that collapse and its possible that a bank lodge this big could exist if the beavers have been around for some time. And Mike Callahan says its theoretically possible if there are tunnels inside leading to the water.

But I think if in 10 years of having beavers in Martinez they ever excavated anything like that, the mayor would have personally thrown me in it. Michael Runtz says a bear could do this, but he doubts beaver.

Stay tuned, I’ll tell you when I hear from more folks.

Apparently beavers are going on Broadway now, with Alan Cummings new musical. This made me howl with laughter – especially the leaping ballet beavers at the end. Enjoy!

A few more gifts arrived yesterday, and I’m thrilled for beavers good fortune. The first was some promised plates from this adorable set at thirdhalfstudios. How fun are these?

And the second is a beyond lovely sterling silver floating necklace that arrived from Winterchild. Like this but with a beaver symbol and on a breathtakingly delicate sterling silver figaro chain. I’m not sure I can keep from bidding on this. You definitely shouldn’t.